Friday, September 19, 2025
Welsh Labour accused of manipulating NHS waiting figures
The broadcaster says that the Welsh government has started to publish provisional data a month sooner than "official data", which has a seven-week lag.
They add that without the change, the Welsh Labour government could have gone into next year's Senedd election unable to show whether it had hit its targets of bringing the overall waiting list down by 200,000 and reducing two-year waits to zero:
Both the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru said this was a tactic to ensure the party looked good ahead of the poll in May, but the Welsh government rejected those claims.
New figures released on Thursday showed total numbers waiting for treatment on the NHS in July fell to just under 793,100, but the numbers waiting longer than two years rose to just over 8,000, an increase of 7.5% on the previous month.
In April, Health Secretary Jeremy Miles set his targets for the end of March 2026, but it would not have been possible to officially report on whether those targets had been met under the old health system before the Senedd election.
This is because the Senedd election is set for 7 May, just over five weeks after the end of March, with full data not confirmed for seven weeks.
If the provisional stats suggest the waiting list targets have been met it would be a powerful message to present to voters.
But there is also an inherent risk the figures could show the targets have been missed, creating political risk for the Welsh Labour government.
Welsh Labour's record on the health service has been abysmal. They are constantly playing catch-up with England and letting down those who rely on the service. Whether this little gambit will help with the voters has to be seen. I suspect people expect more.
Both the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru said this was a tactic to ensure the party looked good ahead of the poll in May, but the Welsh government rejected those claims.
New figures released on Thursday showed total numbers waiting for treatment on the NHS in July fell to just under 793,100, but the numbers waiting longer than two years rose to just over 8,000, an increase of 7.5% on the previous month.
In April, Health Secretary Jeremy Miles set his targets for the end of March 2026, but it would not have been possible to officially report on whether those targets had been met under the old health system before the Senedd election.
This is because the Senedd election is set for 7 May, just over five weeks after the end of March, with full data not confirmed for seven weeks.
If the provisional stats suggest the waiting list targets have been met it would be a powerful message to present to voters.
But there is also an inherent risk the figures could show the targets have been missed, creating political risk for the Welsh Labour government.
Welsh Labour's record on the health service has been abysmal. They are constantly playing catch-up with England and letting down those who rely on the service. Whether this little gambit will help with the voters has to be seen. I suspect people expect more.
